Cropin, the Bengaluru-based agricultural technology company, has secured a €700,000 contract under EIT Food’s Impact Funding Framework to deploy its AI-powered FIRST Potato (Field Intelligence for Regenerative Agriculture and Sustainability in Potato Farming) initiative across Europe. The project aims to accelerate the transition from conventional potato farming to regenerative practices, delivering measurable environmental and economic benefits.

The company expects participating growers to achieve a 5% increase in yield, a 15% reduction in pesticide use, 5% lower water consumption, and a 1.5% increase in tuber solid content. This is projected to generate an economic benefit of approximately €410 per hectare, combining revenue gains with cost reductions for farmers and processors.

Cropin’s digital platform integrates real-time field data from sensors, satellite imagery, weather stations, IoT devices, and proprietary predictive models. The system generates plot-specific daily advisories tailored to soil profiles and microclimatic conditions, optimising irrigation, input usage, and residue management. This precision-driven approach is designed to improve soil health, reduce the environmental footprint, and make regenerative agriculture economically scalable.

Initial deployment will focus on pilot farms in Denmark, with the first commercial trials to follow in collaboration with two potato processors in Germany and the UK. Aarhus University, a leader in sustainable agriculture research, will provide scientific validation of the platform’s impact.

“As regenerative agriculture gains momentum, the absence of verifiable, measurable outcomes poses a real challenge to meaningful, scalable impact,” said Krishna Kumar, CEO and Founder of Cropin. “Through AI, data intelligence, and real-time decision-support, we are bridging this critical gap, bringing precision, accountability, and scale to regenerative agriculture.”

The initiative also targets a long-standing challenge in regenerative potato farming: while higher solid content benefits chip and fry quality, early adoption often comes with reduced yields. Cropin says its technology mitigates this by helping farmers balance yield, quality, and sustainability outcomes, while restoring soil health and improving climate resilience.

The company is in advanced discussions with several leading agri-food brands in the UK and Europe and expects to launch multiple regenerative agriculture pilots before the end of the financial year.